Unmilled rice purchased by state-run National Food Authority (NFA) in the January-to-October period fell by 72.64 percent to 21,684.45 metric tons (MT), from 79,244 MT a year ago.
NFA Spokesman Rebecca Olarte said the food agency’s purchases from rice farmers recorded a steep decline as the farm-gate price of rice exceeded the P17 per kilogram (kg) being offered by the government during the period.
Data obtained by the BusinessMirror showed that as of November 17, the NFA has procured a total of 501,835.50 kg bags (25,091.75 MT). The figure is only 16 percent of the food agency’s total target procurement volume of 3.069 million bags (153,482.5 MT), for this year.
The NFA’s procurement target this year is 42.27 percent higher than the 107,877 MT of palay it bought last year.
Data showed the NFA stepped up its procurement activities in October, when it bought 125,050 bags of rice from farmers. However, the volume was only 36 percent of the 347,800 bags the food agency had wanted to buy in October.
As of November, the NFA has already bought 67,145 bags of palay from farmers, or 13 percent of its target of 503,500 bags for the month. NFA data pegged the agency’s average daily procurement at 5,796 bags.
Olarte told the BusinessMirror the NFA remains optimistic that it will be able to hit its palay-procurement target this year. “Our procurement has been increasing on a monthly basis and we expect it to increase more as harvest peaks when farm-gate price declines further.”
NFA Administrator Jason Laureano Y. Aquino recently directed NFA managers to integrate in their plans a restructuring of standard operating procedures on procurement so they can buy storm-damaged palay during the wet season.
“While we support the buying public in times of calamities through food security, we also support the farmers by buying even storm-damaged palay, to ensure that they still get a fair return on investment even in times of calamities, especially when they can no longer sell to private traders,” Aquino said.
As of the first week of November, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed farm-gate price of unmilled rice declined by 0.78 percent, from the previous week’s P18.55 per kg. Harvesting of wet-season rice crop usually kicks off in October.
The NFA buys clean and dry palay at P17.00 per kg. The food agency gives an additional incentive of P0.20-0.50 per kg for delivery, P0.20 per kg for drying and P0.30 for cooperative development incentive fund for farmers’ organizations.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes